Willing Hostage
by LayKay
Summary: "You're being very impatient." "Oh, I'm sorry I'm being a bad kidnap victim," Kate said, rolling her eyes even though Castle couldn't see them. "You have to stop saying that," he told her. "People might believe you."


"Castle, where are you taking me?" Kate asked, a blindfold over her eyes. He said he had a surprise for her when they were leaving the station and before she knew what was happening, he took her handcuffs and cuffed her behind her back then blindfolded her then shoved her in his car.

"You'll find out in a minute," he told her, leading her down a hallway.

"You said that five minutes ago."

"You're being very impatient."

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm being a bad kidnap victim," she said, rolling her eyes even though he couldn't see them.

"You have to stop saying that," he told her. "People might believe you." She heard a lock click and a door swing open before Castle led her into a room.

"Maybe because it's true!" she hissed at him. As the door shut, she stood for a moment, turning her head in different directions. With her other senses cut off, her sense of smell had heightened. "Where are we?" she asked, sniffing the air, trying to make sense of the smells to give her clues to where he'd taken her.

"You'll see."

"Please stop saying that." She'd been in this room before, she recognized the smells but couldn't place them. He pushed her into the room, turning her to the right. She stumbled when he stepped on the back of her foot. "You know, if you're going to start taking hostages, you're gonna have to start being more graceful about it."

"My apologizes, detective. I'll keep that in mind for the next time. Step up." He steadied her as she took a small step to a slightly raised floor. Another door clicked open, he lead her through and turned her to the left, then the right after a few steps, then too another left.

"Castle, you're making me dizzy."

"Sorry. We're here. You can take the blindfold off."

"Uh, actually I can't. You handcuffed me, remember?"

"Oh right, sorry." The lock of her cuffs clicked as her hands became free. She pushed the blindfold up. She looked around the room, they were standing in a huge walk-in closet that was half empty. She recognized the wall color and the clothes that were hung up, they were in his apartment. "You have a very nice closet, Castle. Is this it?"

"I was hoping for a bit more enthusiasm but if you'll notice, half of the closet is empty."

"I did notice that," she said. "Is there a dot I'm not connecting here?"

"Well, you've been spending a lot of nights here but there was no room for your clothes so you always have to leave early in the morning to get ready for work. I thought it would be a good idea if some of your clothes stayed here, then you wouldn't have to go all the way back to your place."

She nodded, it did make sense for her to keep a few changes of clothes at his place. "But, Castle, this is way more space than I'll need."

"I've seen your apartment, you have a ton of clothes. I think this will be enough room."

"I'm not gonna bring all my clothes here though."

"Well, you can. You can bring them here and leave them here and… you can stay with them," he said with a shrug.

Finally, her brain clicked the final piece of the puzzle into place. "Are you… you're not asking me to move in with you, are you?"

"Well, there's really no use paying rent at a place you only spend an average of 10 hours a week in."

She swallowed hard, looking around the closet. "Are you sure about this?"

"Am I sure that I want to wake up with you every morning, that I want to eat breakfast and dinner with you everyday, that I want to curl up on the couch with you on cold Sunday nights and watch I Love Lucy repeats? Yeah, I'm sure. Plus, it makes sense financially. Like I said, there's really no reason for you to keep paying rent at your place…"

"Ok," she said, smiling up at him.

"And we can take the same car to work so we'll save on gas… ok? Did… did you say ok? Like ok, ok?"

"Yeah. Ok, ok." She put her hand on his cheek softly, her fingertips touching his hair. "I would love to. I can't think of anything better than waking up every morning in your arms, eating breakfast before we go to work together then coming home and curling up on the couch… everything you said. It sounds perfect."

He hugged her tightly, lifting her off the ground.

She couldn't stop smiling as he put her back on the ground. "Wow." She ran her hand through her hair. This was so sudden, there was so much to do. "I… I should go home or… my apartment… or… where I used to live. I should probably start packing."

He shook his head. "Already done. There's a U-Haul outside with all your stuff."

"What? How?"

"You didn't think I really spent all morning writing, did you? I went to your apartment and packed everything up."

"Kidnapping and breaking and entering? Am I gonna have to arrest you?" she teased.

"Well, technically it isn't breaking and entering if you have a key. But if you have to arrest me, you have to." He held his arms out in front of him. "Just please, do be gentle."

She picked up her cuffs, twirling them skillfully around one finger. "Oh, I will." She locked one of his wrists before dragging him to the bed and locking the other cuff to the bedpost. "Or… not."

"Oh, not. I… I vote for not."


End file.
